06-JUN-2007
Café, Union Square, San Francisco, California, 2007
Six people sit in the sun, taking it easy. The woman closest to the camera tries to sleep. Her companion offers his back as a pillow while he studies a map of the city. The fellow in the bright red shirt comments on the flow of tourists from around the world walking through the square. The man with all the beer watches the watchers, a woman reads, and another man turns his back on the whole thing. This image tells a collective story, defining a moment in time where each person in this group becomes an individual by using body language or gesture uniquely.
29-DEC-2006
Haggling in the souks, Marrakesh, Morocco, 2006
Haggling is an art form in Marrakesh. You generally offer one third of the asking price and if not successful, you walk away. Often, the seller will come after you with a counter offer. No matter how low the price may go, the seller usually wins in Marrakesh. I stood on a street corner, some distance away from this shop. My subjects were standing on the sidewalk just in front of it. I used a 375mm telephoto lens, making myself invisible to them so as not to affect their behavior. They never saw me because of that distance and because they were so involved in the bargaining. Using my continuous shooting mode, I made about twenty images of this encounter in three separate bursts. I liked this one the best because of the intensity of the gesture. The seller, at right, is doing everything he can to persuade the man at left to buy. He invades the anonymous customers space, his grasping fingers fail the air inches away from the man’s jellaba. My goal here was to express the intensity of the bargaining process through body language and gesture.
22-DEC-2006
By the truckload, Tineghir, Morocco, 2006
A flock of sheep in search of buyers has just been unloaded at Tineghir’s weekly market. The sheep are context here – it is the gestures of the sellers that I was interested in photographing. Each of the eight people in this image is playing a role in the unfolding story. The most forceful gesture comes from the man in the middle. He seems to be in command, summoning his sheep to gather round and notifying potential customers to come and have a look. Meanwhile, money already seems about to change hands – the man at far right forcefully expresses his preferences with a single digit. The other six people are, for the moment anyway, more passive participants. The man at far left is a shepherd – he carries a stick in his hand. Moments after I made this shot, he took over and marched the entire flock away from this parking area. Meanwhile, a young boy uses both of his hands to guide a wandering sheep back to the flock. The other three people have already done their jobs – they wait for further orders. This array of gestures tells the story of a moment in time, and does so in very human terms.
19-DEC-2006
Taureg Nomad, Sahara Desert, Morocco, 2006
We visited the tent of a family of Berber nomads in the Sahara. She is a member of a Berber tribe known as Tauregs. They move from place to place, depending on the availability of forage for their sheep. They are essentially cut off from the world, yet this woman still wears a wristwatch (That is not polish on her fingernails. The red color is from henna, which is rubbed over the hands.) Her face is veiled. She does not make eye contact with me. There is a cultural divide here – a dozen American tourists crowded into a tent intended for four people. She has no idea of where we came from or who we are. And we have no conception of the world as she sees it. Meanwhile, she softly folds her hands together, a gesture that I can only classify as patient. She would, I think, rather be somewhere else at this moment. I made this image from the other side of the tent with long telephoto focal length (420mm) I shot in burst mode, with all sound effects on my camera turned off. Since I look down into my flip-viewfinder, and do not raise the camera to my face, I don’t think she even noticed that I was making her picture.
19-DEC-2006
Nomadic hands, Sahara Desert, Morocco, 2006
I made this image a few moments after the preceding picture. The hands of the woman seen in both of these images have known a hard life. Yet there is much grace and beauty in how she uses them. (That is not polish on her fingernails. The red color is from henna, which is rubbed over the hands.) She was obviously getting accustomed to our presence. She unfolded the scarf that had veiled her face, and lets it fall around her shoulders. As she handled it, I made this image. We don’t see much of her face here – I let her hands speak for her. There is gentle, caring, graceful quality to her gesture.
22-DEC-2006
Market Day, Tineghir, Morocco, 2006
Selling cattle is a family event at Tineghir’s weekly market. Sellers bring their products to this market from the entire region. This truck carries its bovine cargo below and the family of sellers above. I was drawn to the gesture of the man in red – he grasps the railing with one hand while seemingly blessing the transaction going on below with the other hand. Four other family members arrange themselves casually around him. The sale is incongruously taking place on three levels. The sellers are high, the buyers low, and the confined product is caught in between.
16-DEC-2006
Discussion, Fez, Morocco, 2006
This image is a good example of expressive body language. I made it from a distance at full-telephoto range (420mm). Three of the four men in this street discussion have their hands in their pockets. The other has his arms folded to his body. They are playing it, as we Americans would say, close to the vest. Nobody is committing themselves here. They play a wait and see game. The man doing the talking here is the fellow on the left – even though we can’t see his face, he seems to be leaning forward and expressing himself to the man with folded arms. The two robed men are really bystanders in this discussion. They mimic each other’s posture. I also like the tension created by the spacing here. The man with folded arms is allowing the smallest amount of space between himself and the others. But the tension within that narrow space is palpable. All of this is due to the dynamics of the body language. As expressive photographers, we must learn to read body language and then use it to tell our stories.
21-DEC-2006
Worries, Tineghir, Morocco, 2006
These men appeared to be the drivers of trucks parked in Tinehir's central square. Apparently, their day could have been a better one. I used the full extent of my zoom lens for this image as well – 420mm. They never noticed me. If they had, such an image as this would have been impossible to make. I shot numerous bursts, and selected this image because of the variety of body language and gesture in it. The man in the jellaba at left has a downcast expression, the fellow with his hands in his pocket also looks down, while the man at right uses a gesture that is often associated with frustration – a hand to the head. And all of this is going on at the door to a truck. They do not openly acknowledge the presence of each other – they seem to be communing in silence.
14-DEC-2006
Art imitates life, Rabat, Morocco, 2006
I am not sure if the young man hamming it up for my benefit realizes that he is echoing the exertions of the lady on the billboard behind him. Like most Moroccan children, he only wants his picture taken. The body language of the woman in the advertisement is exuberantly posed. The child’s posed body language also makes use of both arms, but they point inwards instead of outwards. The ad wants us to come join the fun, while the kid is telling me to take his picture. Meanwhile, the third party to this image trudges past with head down – he wants no part of either the ad or the camera. He is the only party in this image who is not posing.
21-DEC-2006
Luncheon salute, Tineghir, Morocco, 2006
The boys of Dar ET-Tab, a boarding home for impovershed students, offer a luncheon salute of three fingers, summing up their school motto: "Earth, Humanity, and Freedom." Like the boy in the previous image, they are playing to the camera. But the gestures they use occur spontaneously. I did not say anything to them – they are communicating their feelings to me and to anyone who might ever view this image. This picture is about feelings, and they come to us from the heart. Each boy brings a different expression to the table as well -- the boy at left deals with a mouthful of food, the one in the middle looks away for the moment, while the student at right confidently takes his stand.
21-DEC-2006
Loading up, Tineghir, Morocco, 2006
Multi-tasking often reveals expressive body language. This man was loading luggage on top of his truck in the town square, while trying to maintain his balance at the same time. I abstract him by shooting from behind, simplifying the picture and calling particular attention to his precarious posture. With a mosque and soaring clouds as background, he shows complete confidence in himself. He must have felt that someone was watching over him.
11-DEC-2006
Man in blue cart, Essaouira, Morocco, 2006
I saw this man sitting in a blue cart next to a blue door, lifting his hands to his face as if in prayer. His gesture is one of those that could have a number of potential meanings. He might have been saying a morning prayer. Or perhaps he was just thinking. Maybe he was sleepy. We will never know, and that is the mystery of this photograph. This was how I found him and this was how I left him. I leave it to my viewers to interpret the gesture in any way they wish.